Beyond Efficiency: Using Gen AI's Overton Window to Refocus on a More Human-Centered, Care-Driven Economy
This post was made with an AI tool from Casper Studios, developed by my friend Jay Singh. You can message him if you want to do a 30min live chat with him. He’ll take the interview and create content like this for you.
In my work spearheading partnerships between governments and technology companies like LinkedIn, I regularly contemplate how to best measure genuine societal "value" generated by emerging technologies rather than mere economic "productivity." While some productivity growth can provide resources to enable human flourishing, over-focusing on efficiency metrics risks losing sight of the deeper meaning and fulfillment that technology should provide.
As generative AI transforms entire categories of work, I envision the potential for an economy progressively shifting focus to more care-oriented roles. Teachers, nurses, childcare providers, elderly caregivers - professions centered on tending to human emotional and physical needs that are irreducible to automation. Parents could be compensated for the invaluable work of raising the next generation with knowledge, empathy, and resilience. With less time devoted to rote work, we could spend more effort building community, relationships, and meaning.
But this requires intention - we cannot assume progress automatically leads to beneficial outcomes for humanity. We must structure societal transitions with great care for human dignity and the vulnerable. Policy choices determine whether automation displaces workers and polarizes opportunity or allows more fulfilling roles. Some productivity growth can generate resources to uplift living standards, but solely chasing economic expansion often diverges from what benefits humanity holistically.
Reorienting technology to serve human values over profit will be a generational project as AI transforms life and work. But promising signs exist, from emerging wellbeing metrics beyond GDP to younger generations advocating ethics and sustainability along with innovation. No quick policy fix will create utopia, but we must center human needs and aspirations when evaluating technological change, not prioritize efficiency alone.
Progress begins with communities uniting around shared values and vision for the future. Technology should align with and serve these values. As AI automation accelerates, the question is whether it will drive ever-greater productivity and wealth concentration or enable more cooperative, resilient, and equitable societies where all can thrive. If developed wisely and applied with care, AI could help build a world where technology supports human dignity, creativity, and community.
Really love this statement on getting the goals of technology and AI right. These things are tools and they can be used for good or ill. The most likely scenario is that a lot of companies that build AI solutions will focus on what they can build and sell. Aspirations for impact may play a part in that, but the risk is that those aspirations will be naive.